Now Shaking | Savory Cocktails

So this mushroom walks into a bar. Yes, I thought I’d heard this one before as well (and really, it never gets old), but it turns out that fungi are no joking matter at the Library Bar tucked inside the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. On a recent Wednesday night, I asked the bartender Matthew Biancaniello what he was aging in a mini oak barrel on the counter behind him. “I’m infusing bourbon with candy cap mushrooms,” he said.

By nature, I’m suspicious of infusions with weird ingredients. I like my drinks clean, simple and gimmick-free, and so it was with a liberal dash of skepticism that I ordered Biancaniello’s Umami Manhattan. He poured Cynar (an Italian bitter made from artichokes), Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth and the mushroom-infused bourbon into a shaker, which he stirred — the best Manhattans are always stirred — and strained into a glass. A Luxardo-soaked cherry lurked beneath the surface. The drink was earthy and spicy with the faintest hint of maple. Candy cap mushrooms are particularly fragrant and most frequently used to impart their distinctive maple-syrup flavor to cookies and ice cream. And, it turns out, they’re quite genius in a cocktail.

In fact, Biancaniello is something of a mad scientist when it comes to savory drinks, proving that the most unexpected ingredients deserve a seat at the bar. But what’s more surprising is that in the wake of the trend toward overwrought cocktails showcasing molecular acrobatics, Biancaniello’s drinks are smart, sophisticated and simple. And they taste good.

So what other savory surprises lay in wait? Last week he ordered a single white truffle from Alba, which is tucked into a jar perfuming a half-dozen eggs from which he makes a seasonal eggnog. A brewer friend recently sent him some Czech hops, which have found their way into a bottle of gin. (Hopheads, take note: If you like IPAs, this is the gin for you.) On the evening I visited, the last of the season’s Green Zebra heirloom tomatoes got muddled with jalapeño, lime and rum for a savory-spicy mojito. I ended the night with a fiery gin and chartreuse cocktail called the Mexican’s Last Stand, which was spritzed with liquid ghost pepper.

Biancaniello also has a sweet side. This February he expects to receive a colony of bees from the Angeles National Forest, which he will raise on a friend’s farm. “With my own bees I’ll be able to manipulate the honey’s flavor, maybe with sage or buckwheat,” he said, adding, “my brother holds the Guinness Book of World Records for being covered in bees.” Obsession, it would seem, is a family trait.